Selling A Car

Have you been contacted by a member of our buying team to sell us your vehicle?, if so then they will have directed you to this page on our website, below is a guide to ensure a smooth transaction.

WHO ARE WE?

A tour around our website will give you the peace of mind that you are dealing with a very reputable company, we have been trading now since 1975 and in that time frame we have built a strong relationship with several leading bodies in the motor industry such as the AA, The RAC, HPI, The FCA and leading finance specialists such as Black Horse and Motonovo - take a look in the 'Why ESP Cars' section on this website.

ARE WE COLLECTING FROM YOU?

Prior to our representative visiting you our used car buying team will have negotiated a price with you based on factors such as your vehicles history and ownership, a key focal point during those discussions would have been condition of both the interior and exterior of your vehicle, WE RELY HEAVILY ON YOUR DESCRIPTION OF THE VEHICLE, as an accurate one ensures a smooth transaction when viewing / collecting the car from you.

WHAT HAPPENS IF OUR OPINIONS DIFFER ON THE VEHICLES MECHANICAL OR COSMETIC CONDITION?

The worst case scenario for both parties would be for the purchase/sale not to go ahead, this will only happen if the vehicle as been mis-described to the point that we can't agree a figure that covers any unexpected reconditioning costs, however we are very realistic and unlike most companies WE DON'T PAY OUR STAFF COMMISSION TO OBTAIN A LOWER PRICE FOR YOUR CAR, so we will not look for an unjustified reason to try and reduce the prior agreed price, we want the purchase/sale to be as smooth as possible for both parties.

PAYMENT

We will pay you a deposit via bank transfer to confirm our appointment to view your vehicle, at this point we would expect you remove the vehicle from any advertising formats you are using.

FUNDS TRANSFER

We will only pay the person whose name and address appears on the Registration Document (V5) who must also supply supporting identification such as a Driving Licence or Passport. The funds transfer will be paid by FASTER PAYMENT as soon as our accounts are given authority to do so by our representative, again, for audit purposes, the funds will only be paid into the account of the person that the vehicle belongs to, we will take the Sort Code and Account number as well as the name of your bank from either an original debit card or an original cheque/paying in book.

SETTLING OUTSTANDING FINANCE

We can settle any amount of finance you may have outstanding on your car, prior to our representative travelling to you we must receive a copy of an in date settlement letter from your finance company with the authority from you to confirm the figure with them.

There are 3 scenarios which could arise from your car having outstanding finance showing on it.

1. We agree that the price that we are paying for it is the figure that you owe on it, if this is the case we will pay your finance agreement off whilst our representative is with you, you can ring your finance company to confirm the payment has been received and at this point we will take delivery of the vehicle after concluding the paperwork.

2. You owe more to the Finance Company than your car is worth and we have agreed a part settlement with you paying the difference, in this case we would again require a copy of the settlement figure owed prior to travelling with authority from you to verify the amount with the Finance Company, in this scenario we would expect you to pay us the difference between the price paid by us and the amount to settle, once you have paid us the difference we will pay the whole amount off whilst our representative is with you. you can ring your finance company to confirm the payment has been received and at this point we will take delivery of the vehicle after concluding the paperwork.

3. You owe less than the price we are paying for your car, in this case we would again require a copy of the settlement figure owed prior to travelling with authority from you to verify the amount with the Finance Company, we will clear the amount owed to them by FASTER PAYMENT and send you FASTER PAYMENT for the shortfall on the agreed purchase figure we would owe you, you can then ring your Finance Company to confirm the payment has been received and at this point we will take delivery of the vehicle after concluding the paperwork.

HELP US TO HELP YOU

A smooth transaction is only guaranteed with Proper Planning, please help us to help you when you are selling us your vehicle.

The original phone call with our Used Car Buyer can eliminate all sorts of issues that could arise when our Representative visits you to collect the car.

Our Used Car buyer will carry out an HPI Check on your vehicle upon receipt of your registration number.

Please provide an accurate as possible appraisal of your vehicle, from the Paperwork (Service History Details) to the cosmetic Exterior and Interior of the car as well as mechanical condition.

Please ensure that the vehicle is registered to the person selling the car, that the person selling the car will be present upon purchase and they have the required Identification to support the vehicle.

Please ensure that your Finance Company is available to give clearance on the car when we pay the agreement off if there is one.

Please ensure that you have the ability to check our funds transfer as cleared funds, ON-LINE BANKING is ideal.

We will only ever arrange an appointment between 9.30 and 4.30 Monday to Friday, this is for your benefit so that you have plenty of time to make sure that funds are clear.

Our representative will carry out a function, lights and levels check on the vehicle and in the case of convertible vehicles will ask YOU to operate the roof, we do not want to be held responsible for the roof to be incorrectly operated.

Please ensure that any ancillaries associated with the vehicle are present, common items such as Spare Keys, Sat Nav Discs/Cards, Locking Wheel Nut Keys and Book Packs including where applicable MUST be handed over with the vehicle.

We will return you the Yellow Slip for the Registration Document, it is YOUR responsibility to send the slip to the DVLA to inform them of a change of keeper, upon receipt of the Yellow Slip the DVLA will issue you a refund for and Road Tax you may have outstanding.